


Of Bears and Men (Weaponized Pining Remix)

by Neverever



Category: Marvel Adventures: Avengers
Genre: Didn't Know They Were Dating, Fluff, Gift Giving, M/M, Mistakes, Mutual Pining, Remix, Stuffed Toys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-16 23:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13646835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever
Summary: Steve gives Tony a teddy bear after Tony ends up in the hospital. Now Tony has to find a way to thank Steve.





	Of Bears and Men (Weaponized Pining Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Meatball42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball42/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Mutually Assured Infatuation](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8939161) by [Meatball42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball42/pseuds/Meatball42). 



> This fic is a remix of Meatball 42's Mutually Assued Infatuation as part of the 2018 Cap-Iron Man Remix Exchange. Please check out the original story, which is a fun fluffy fic. I hope that this is fic is a nice companion piece.
> 
> And thanks to my beta, Arms_plutonic.

Here’s a pro tip from Tony Stark, Iron Man and CEO of Stark Industries. Smacking into a building in an non-functioning suit of armor is a sure way to land yourself in the hospital for a couple of weeks. At a minimum.

If only he had given a few seconds of thought to his overall plan of attack, Tony wouldn’t be stuck in this hospital bed hooked up to an IV and itching from the sensors taped to his skin. Or not. His plan should have worked. But it didn’t matter. The whole thing was intensely embarrassing from the team flailing around trying to capture thousands of miniature flying aliens to Spider-man kicking the suit to see if Tony was conscious.

He’d been confined to this bed for two whole days already, and he was going out of his mind. The doctors were less than helpful about letting him out of Bed Jail. Plus Rhodey was having none of his complaints, which made him grumpy.

Looking up from his tablet, Rhodey said, “If you slept a couple of hours, you’d get better faster.”

“That’s not the point. I have things to do, places to be.” 

“Yes, it’s called getting better. You have a private room, the nurses are doting on you, the residents are calling you ‘sir’ and the hospital administrators are tiptoeing around. Take it easy and you’ll be out of here sooner than later.”

What Tony desperately wanted more than anything was a computer. He could do some actual work if he had that. Instead people gave him get well cards and balloons. As if on cue, a staff person wheeled in a cart covered with flower arrangements and get well cards.

“Rhodey --” Tony said with a sigh.

“Can the flowers be redistributed to other patients?” Rhodey asked.

“Sure,” the woman replied cheerfully. “You might want these though.” She pulled out the cards and handed them to Rhodey. “Oh, I nearly forgot this.” She tugged a plain brown box off the bottom shelf of the cart.

Tony narrowed his eyes. “What is that?”

“I don’t know. It came addressed to you,” she replied. And with a cheery goodbye wave, she wheeled the cart out the door.

Rhodey and Tony regarded the package with suspicion. “It’s not a SHIELD facility so they wouldn’t have scanned it first,” Rhodey ventured.

“What the worst that can happen? Let’s just open it,” Tony conceded. Impatience was one way to get blown up. But, really, his enemies had plenty of opportunities to do that outside a hospital, so why worry now.

The box had already been opened, so at least someone was concerned about safety. Tony reached in and lifted a large fluffy dark brown teddy bear with blue eyes, a red and gold bowtie and what appeared to be an arc reactor set in its fluffy chest. He turned over a label in his hand. “Hi. I’m Edward Bear, here to cheer you up!” There were a lot of small printed pieces of paper left in the box, including a small booklet about the story of Edward and information about the custom bear company that made him.

“Who sent it?” Rhodey asked.

“Steve.”

“Steve? Tall, blond, stars and stripes Steve? That Steve sent you a stuffed animal? I mean, it’s great-looking stuffed animal but -- Steve?”

The vast majority of the human population on the planet was blissfully unaware of Steve’s internet habits. The rest of the Avengers were not so unaware, given the occasional bout of Steve-brand “people are being wrong on the internet” anger or long research projects. In the past year, Steve had really gotten into internet shopping to the point that Tony had to do an intervention before he bought a fleet of crappy motorcycles. But Tony also funded Steve’s buys of his belongings from the end of the war off sketchy auction and memorabilia sites. So it all balanced out in the end.

The bear was admittedly gorgeous with soft, silky fur and a sweet expression on its face and high-quality construction. The package literature indicated that this particular Edward Bear was part of a special line of custom bears stitched and customized for the recipient. All Edward asked from Tony was to be loved and adored and Edward would comfort him while he was sick. And when he was better, Edward and he would go on grand adventures. Hmmm, Edward Bear was clearly designed for someone much, much younger than Tony, maybe in the 7 to 10 age group based on Tony’s estimation.

“Well?”

“I can’t send him back,” Tony said. “Set him in the chair.”

Tony had to endure a few more days in the hospital despite his efforts at doctor-charming. The team rotated their visits. Except for Steve, who was out of the country on a mission. If Tony thought about, he might have been vaguely disappointed that Steve hadn’t come to the hospital. And that he hadn’t sat vigil over his sleeping body, in clear distress at Tony’s condition. Tony didn’t have to fantasize that. It was a Tradition. Steve was always there when Tony was in the hospital, just like the sun rising in the east every day. Fine, he was more than a little disappointed that Steve hadn’t turned up.

“That’s why he sent you Edward,” Jan said. “Cap was unhappy he couldn’t be here to see you recover.”

She was sitting on Tony’s bed playing with Edward. Since his arrival, Edward had been given his own miniature laptop, coffee mug, cell phone, and Iron Man gauntlet.

“Oh?” Tony had talked with Steve a couple of times since the accident, but the conversations were way too short. He looked at Edward and tried to imagine an bear that looked more like Steve. “Why not Cap Bear?”

“I asked him that. But he just liked Edward the most. You’re a good bear, aren’t you, Eddy?” She moved the bear’s head up and down.

“When is Steve back from wherever?”

Jan shrugged. “Don’t know exactly. He’s investigating some mysterious shipping containers somewhere in China with Fury -- he was summoned by SHIELD a few hours after that alien invasion. When are you getting sprung from this place?”

“When the doctors aren’t worried about internal bleeding anymore.”

“Well, that’s not a good reason. We always have to worry about that.”

“Fine, when they’re not worried about ticking Ororo off.”

The next time Tony saw Steve, he found him passed out in his spare hospital room chair holding Edward on his lap. Ridiculously cute and adorable. Steve was still in the uniform, which looked like it had seen better days. Which meant that Steve had come straight to the hospital when he arrived in New York. Tony felt warm and fuzzy knowing that Steve couldn’t wait to see him. Yep, it was Their Thing. 

“Hey, Tony,” Steve said when he jerked awake. “How are you doing?”

“Going home today or tomorrow. Depending on tests. Where have you been?’

“Investigating reports about the Puppet Master. Nothing useful.” He smiled down at Edward. “What do you think of Edward?”

“He’s a nice bear,” Tony offered up. 

“He’s a terrific bear.” Steve rubbed the bear’s head between his cute little ears. “And we’re going home with Tony today,” he told the bear.

“He’ll need his own suitcase. Maybe two,” Tony muttered. Jan had sewn Edward his own three-piece suit, just like Tony’s bespoke Tom Ford suits. Someone had found sunglasses for the bear as well. In a few days, Edward had become the best accessorized bear in all of New York and Tony prayed that the team had not built Edward his own workshop back at the Tower.

Tony was sprung the next day, the only concession to the doctors’ concerns was that Steve didn’t take him home on the motorcycle. It was actually written in big red block letters in his medical files that under no circumstances was Captain America was to take Tony Stark home in anything less than a sedan car with a roof and seat belts. It was the Convertible Incident that prompted that.

“So, why Edward?” Tony said. The bear was safely stowed in the back seat of the town car between them.

“Nostalgia, I guess. A neighbor, Mrs. Appleton, stitched a bear for me when I was four and had the measles. Mom couldn’t afford one of the bears from the window in FAO Schwarz.” Steve had a slight smile on his face. “I slept with that bear every night and went everywhere with him until it nearly fell apart. Mom put him on a shelf in my room.”

Now Tony was not at all immune to Steve’s physical charms, but looking at him remembering a long lost toy made his heart thump a little harder. And the thought of tiny Steve holding a teddy bear while he slept was too adorable to bear. 

“I thought I lost him when I had scarlet fever. Mom had been reading the Velveteen Rabbit to me at night. One day, just as I getting better, I saw that Bear was gone.”

“The Velveteen Rabbit -- that’s the one where they burnt all the toys because -- right, scarlet fever.”

Admittedly, one thing Tony could definitely pass on was Steve’s stories about his childhood and childhood illnesses -- they always sounded like a Victorian melodrama, even though Tony knew that Steve grew up in the Roaring Twenties. Steve had once managed to shock the team into silence with his hair-raising stories about the local speakeasy and bookies. 

“I, um, didn’t handle it well. My mom had sent Bear to Mrs. Appleton to fix while I wasn’t able to play with him.” 

“That story didn’t make the history books.” Tony could imagine a tiny angry Steve demanding his teddy bear. 

“Some people think that Captain America was the perfect child.” Steve sighed. 

“Not so much.” Tony laughed.

~~~~~

Tony was back at work at Stark Industries.

And he did not have enough coffee that morning for this. He expected a meeting concerning Avengers licensing. Instead he was confronted by an army of ovoid plushies of different sizes that vaguely resembled the Avengers. An Avengers liaison, a lawyer and a couple of marketing people, overly enthusiastic for 8:30 in the morning, accompanied them. 

What was it with all the stuffed animals in his life right now?

He picked up the Iron Man one. The unblinking embroidered blue eyes stared back at him. “What are these?”

“Our latest licensing product. Tsum tsums.” one of the marketing people cheerfully replied. “We’re going to debut them at the New York Toy Fair in a few months.”

“Right.” Tony located the Cap tsum tsum in the middle of the pile on the conference table. The toy had a rather determined look on its face for a small stuffed toy. And of course the little Cappy had its shield firmly attached to his back. He smiled back at it.

“We need you to approve the final product before we go to manufacturing,” the lawyer said. “The Avengers approved the initial designs and --”

“I’ll have to show them to the team,” Tony replied. The team had an agreement about the licensing after the Great Keychain Debacle of 16.

“Can you get back to us in a week?” the lawyer asked. 

The liaison jumped in. “I’ll arrange for the samples to be delivered to the Avengers floor.”

Tony rejoiced that the meeting was ending after ten minutes. “Great. Good work, everyone.”

“Mr. Stark, could you return the Captain America toy before you go?” the liaison asked.

He looked down at the little Cap in his hand. “I’ll hold onto this one for now. Just to see how sturdy it is.”

~~~~~

The thing was that Tony hadn’t spent time with Steve for a long time. In all honesty, Steve taking Tony home from the hospital was the most amount of time they had spent together as far as Tony could remember.

They tried, they really did. They planned to go for dinner to catch-up. Then Peter, scamming for a free dinner, would invite himself, and Jan would jump in. Next thing you know, the whole damn team was crammed around a table at a chain restaurant that nobody liked. But they had to compromise because Logan bitched about craft beers and why no one drank perfectly ordinary beer anymore, and Greer was on another fad diet again and Bruce hated complicated food. And all Tony in his cramped seat could do was pass bread to Steve via Ororo and her date Thor.

They planned on getting together for basketball and that fell through because of aliens. Or that time they were going to a car show and the earthquake hit. They spent more time together at police booking than having fun. That’s how it was, and Tony and Steve had only gotten busier since then.

So while Tony definitely was Not a Stuffed Animal Person, he had become fond of Edward Bear perched on a bedroom chair. After all, he was a gift from Steve when Steve could not be there. And Tony was never telling anyone about Tsum Tsum Cap. Little Cappy had a place of honor on Tony’s workbench, out of range of the soldering iron and where Tony could keep an eye on him. No one needed to know that Tony liked to pet his little head.

Missing Steve was on Tony’s mind when he found Steve making protein shakes in the kitchen. Steve stirred a glass full of shockingly pink liquid. “Want one, Tony?”

“Are you free tomorrow afternoon?” Tony blurted out. 

Steve paused his stirring. “Is this about the team?”

“Nah, I figure I owe you something for Edward. Lunch or something like that.”

Steve hesitated just long enough for Tony to wonder if maybe he overstepped or something. “I don’t have anything after my meeting in the morning.” Steve gave him that hundred-watt smile. “Lunch is good.”

That’s how the whole competitive hangout thing started. Tony invited Steve to lunch. Steve invited Tony to dinner. Tony invited Steve to a movie. Steve took him to a gallery. Next thing he knew, Tony was holiday shopping with Steve for the team. Just them, walking through a cold and blustery New York winter day, with bags of gifts. 

“You look cold,” Steve said. 

If Steve wasn’t Steve, Tony would have thought he detected a slight smugness radiating from the man wearing a light wool coat. Tony shivered a little in his fashionable parka that was supposed to withstand temps below zero fahrenheit but didn’t feel like it was holding its own against a 32 degree windchill.

But Steve booped his nose. “Let’s get coffee.”

Well, Tony wasn’t ever going to say no to a cute man who booped his nose and had an uncanny ability to find the perfect place to get coffee and take a break. Within minutes, he was sitting comfortably in a soft leather chair with coffee and cookies and checking his phone. Steve sat next to him drinking his barbaric no-cream no-sugar black coffee and leafing through a figure studies book Tony had bought him at the last store. It was now spitting snow outside the large glass window and the warm and cozy store buzzed with holiday music and the low murmur of customers.

Perfect timing, and they could hang out here for an hour or two. Tony snuggled into the couch. Then Steve turned to him and pointed out something in his book. And smiled dazzlingly at Tony.

Boy, did he love Steve.

Tony froze at the thought. But before he could poke at it, a blonde woman waved frantically at him. She rushed over at him. “Tony Stark, good to see you!”

“Carla, surprised to see you,” he replied. 

She lifted her coffee. “I needed to grab something before my next meeting. You never answered me about my New Year’s Eve party.”

“Party?”

“I sent you an invite ages ago. You have to be there. Everyone is -- Jan van Dyne will be there. Bring a date.” She shot a furtive look at Steve. Tony was always amazed that people never recognized Steve out of the spangly uniform.

Tony also had a pile of email he never answered in his inbox. The invite was probably sitting there. “I’ll --”

“Good, see you there! Gotta go!” Carla dashed off again.

Steve lifted a single eyebrow and Tony shrugged in return. “Carla and I go way back -- she’s serves on a lot of the same charity boards I do.”

“Oh, she seems to be a busy person. What was that about a party --?”

“Carla has this huge New Year’s Eve party. I haven’t been for a couple of years. Now, what were you showing me?”

As Steve talked about the piece on the page, Tony had the fleeting thought that he should ask Steve out to that New Year’s Eve party. That would be nice, spending time with Steve at a party. The sort of things that friends do. 

~~~~~

Tony never found out exactly how Ororo and Greer heard about his invite to Carla’s party. Although the good money would be on Jan. “You are asking Steve, right?” Jan asked pointedly the week before the party. 

He could barely see Jan over the towering pile of tsum tsums covering the large dining room table. The licensing team shipped them yet another load of the plush toys for the team’s final approval. Jan had appointed herself the team’s point person in evaluating the toys and she was currently checking each example against her set of specifications. Generals went into battle less prepared than Jan.

“I don’t know -- Steve usually covers --”

“You.” She waved a pen menacingly in his direction. “You -- go and tell Carla right now that you will be there with Steve. Now.”

“Steve --”

“Steve. Will. Be. Free. And I make sure that he is dressed appropriately, none of those ridiculous off-the-rack suits he usually wears.” She made a face thinking of those horrible suits. “Just be ready at 8 pm Dec. 31, and we’ll take care of the rest.”

Somehow Ororo had wrested the duty roster out of Steve’s tight-fisted hands and scheduled Logan and Peter for New Year’s instead of Steve and a computer. Tony found that out from Peter grumbling around the Tower for two days as he looked for sympathy from his teammates. “Some of us had plans.”

“Some of us have more important plans,” Greer said meaningfully. “So deal.”

So Tony appeared as commanded by Jan in the living room. Ororo and Greer were waiting for him. “You clean up okay,” Greer said with a laugh. “It’s like you’re waiting for your prom date. Hey, Steve.”

Now Tony knew he looked good. But Steve. Steve was magnificent. Jan had dressed him in a suit cut perfectly for his figure and found the perfect blue tie that matched Steve’s sky blue eyes. Tony had no business escorting this god among men to a silly party at a local earthbound hotel. Nearby, Jan, Ororo and Greer exchanged knowing looks.

“Shouldn’t you be going?” Jan asked pointedly.

Tony couldn’t tear his eyes off Steve, who stood there a bit sheepishly under his friends’ admiring eyes. He hoped he wasn’t drooling. “Um, what about you?”

“I’m picking up Hank so I’ll see you there.”

If Tony was being honest with himself, the party was a hell of lot more fun with Steve there. He had someone on his side who got his eye rolls and meaningful looks, who shared his opinion on the food (mostly good, but there should be more), and who rescued him from tedious conversations. But the thing was that Tony was never honest with himself. Or his feelings that he preferred to bury down so deep that they forgot that sunlight existed.

Coming back from a trip to the bathroom, he found golden Steve in the middle of an adoring crowd. Steve should always have an adoring crowd around. He deserved it. And Steve could have the pick of anyone in that room, if he wanted it. 

A cold wave of uncertainty with a splash of jealousy washed over Tony. Steve was his friend, his one solid bulwark against the crazy of their Avengers teammates. Steve made him happy, but he wasn’t so sure he made Steve happy. And if he couldn’t do that, Tony had no reason to think that he might have a shred of a claim on Steve’s affections. 

Tony joined the group, fighting for his usual spot next to Steve. Who nodded kindly at him, because Mrs. Rogers had raised her boy with good manners. Looking at the people gathered around Steve, Tony suddenly felt like old garbage in a Tom Ford suit. He couldn’t compete with the supermodel clinging to Steve’s arm or that Guggenheim Fellowship winner -- Tim Something -- hanging on Steve’s every word. 

The math was simple. He was just Tony, complete with baggage and a history of poor decisions. He was doing pretty good with Steve being his friend. And he could live with that.

Carla clinked her glass. “The ball is going to drop in a few minutes,” she announced. 

Steve joined Tony as they walked over to the window. Steve kind of elbowed (although nicely and politely) his and Tony’s way into an excellent view of Times Square and the ball in its crystalline neon glory. 

“It’s something else, isn’t it?” Steve said over his shoulder.

“It’s just another year. Not much different from this year.” 

“Oh, I don’t know about that. The future is always promising.”

“Hrumph.” Steve was so close that Tony could feel his warm enticing breath on his neck, making him a little weak in the knees.

No, he wasn’t going to give into that temptation. Not when Steve had so many better options than Tony. Steve was one of his best friends, the sort of guy who gave him a teddy bear when he’s stuck in the hospital. 

The party crowd started chanting along with the countdown blaring from loudspeakers down below. “Ten -- nine -- eight -- seven -- six -- five -- four -- three -- two -- Happy New Year!!!” People blew noise makers, hugged and kissed people around them, high-fived friends, cheering and shouting.

As for Tony, he turned to look at the crowd in time to see Steve leaning towards him as if he going for the midnight kiss. Panic seized him and Tony ducked the kiss. Steve blinked in confusion as he and Tony stared at each other for a minute. Tony said nothing as he slunk away to hide until they had to go home. 

Tony sat alone in his limo in his ride back to the Tower. That way he could keep avoiding Steve for as long as possible. Hank and Jan would take Steve home.

Really it was for the best. He knew it was. But Tony couldn’t face Edward Bear when he returned to his room. Not that Edward was a judgemental bear at all. Still, Tony felt the sting of accusation from the silent bear as he peeled off his suit.

Why did he, when everything was going so swimmingly, have to make it weird with Steve?

“You don’t know anything,” he hissed at the bear. He put his suit jacket over the bear so he could sleep. Even if his sleep was haunted by Steve’s stricken look.

~~~~~

Jan gave up glaring at him about three weeks after New Year’s. After that, things were pretty much back to normal. Tony was busy with Avengers stuff and work at Stark Industries. Not much time to dwell on Steve. Or think about what he was missing because he wasn’t hanging out with Steve. Or notice the sting from Steve avoiding him.

Because Steve was in fact avoiding him. It was an active avoidance that no one could miss. Stuff like Steve turning heel and walking out the door when he saw Tony in the room. Or skipping a team activity if Tony joined them. That sort of thing. 

It would hurt like hell if Tony allowed himself to see it. 

So like Tony decided, things were pretty much back to normal. And he was kind of okay about it. For the most part, when he wasn’t thinking about Steve.

Jan was starting to pack up the tsum tsums on the dining room table at the end of January. “Time to go,” she said as she carefully put a batch in a box.

“Sending them back to Marketing?” Tony asked.

“Sending them to a children’s hospital,” she said. “Just have to figure out where.” She set the Giant Girl tsums down on the table. “What’s wrong with you?” she snapped.

“Excuse me?”

“What’s wrong with you? Why did you have to break Steve’s heart like that? I thought you had some feelings for Steve, at least as a friend. To treat him that badly -- that’s not you, Tony.”

Tony took a deep breath. “It’s better that --”

“Oh, don’t give me that crap. You spend a thousand dollars on sheets because you like nice things. Steve is a very nice thing. So what gives? He likes you and you like him. You were practically dating for months and then Steve makes a move and you drop him like he’s a piece of used gum.” Jan put her hands on her hips and shook her head.

“He could date anyone in New York, the country, the world! You saw him at the party -- people were throwing themselves at him.”

“Argggghhhh.” Jan rubbed her eyes, and tucked her hair behind her ears, and put a hand over her mouth before throwing her hands up in the air. “For a smart man, you are ridiculously stupid at times. Steve only wanted you that night. Didn’t you even notice?”

Tony stopped. Thinking back on it, he had ignored the look of panic on Steve’s face when he was surrounded by people at the party and how he smiled and relaxed when Tony showed up. Like he had rescued a princess from the dragon. How Steve had saved him the hors d’oeuvres that he liked and angled to get them the best spot to see the ball drop. And the dozen other tiny nice things that Steve had done all evening to make the party fun for Tony.

Damn, he was a completely useless person if he couldn’t have seen the signs.

He groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “What am I going to do?”

“Right now, you’re going to help me with these toys and I’ll talk with Ororo about what we can do to help you fix this.”

“If we can fix it --”

“We’re talking about Steve here, Tony. He’s been head over heels in love with you for a long time.”

“How do you know that?” Tony felt terrified but fond of Steve all at the same time. Which probably meant he was still in love with Steve. No, he’d always loved Steve. He needed to be honest about that at least.

“He didn’t buy me a custom bear when I was stuck in the hospital for one thing. Seriously, Tony, the guy was walking on air for the past few months when he thought you liked him back.”

Tony grabbed a box and faced the mountain of tsums. “Right.” He had been so stupid about it all. He should have caught on when Steve jumped up to join him on a trash run. No one gets that excited to take the trash out.

“At least you’re talking with me. Imagine if Logan was involved --”

“Logan wouldn’t care.”

“Logan would blackmail you for beer. And not that much beer. Think about that.”

~~~~~

Three days later, Tony was working in his office at Stark Industries. Jan and Ororo were scheming something, but had no immediate answers. They had vetoed the three truckloads of flowers that was Tony’s best answer at the time. They had time to figure out the best thing considering that Steve was on a mission for SHIELD for the time being. 

Tony restlessly tapped his desk. For the past hour, he kept thinking about Steve and not about the latest report from the R&D division. Steve just meant a hell of lot to Tony. And he had no idea how to bridge the gap.

Except, what if he checked Steve’s latest auction searches? He knew all of Steve’s passwords and maybe he could get something special for Steve. Like that bear Steve had wanted from FAO Schwarz when he was a little kid. Or something close enough to it.

An hour of searches later, Tony fist pumped the air when he found the perfect little brown bear. A little worn given the little guy’s age. But still fluffy with bright eyes. A couple of clicks and the bear was on its way to Tony. 

The whole thing had started because he wanted to thank Steve for Edward and now he could.

His phone shrieked “Avengers Assemble! Avengers Assemble!”

“What’s going on?” Tony said into the team comms as he went for the suit stowed in his office. 

Steve replied, “Puppet Master -- he’s controlling stuffed animals in New York, using them as an army to attack civilians.”

“What?”

“We’re being attacked by stuffed toys,” Ororo repeated.

“Do you know how many stuffed animals there are in New York? Seriously, tons,” Peter added.

Tony stopped in his tracks, listening to his teammates spread out across the city’s toy stores, fighting at several ground zeros. “Why isn’t Spider-Man webbing them up?”

“I told you!” Peter said to Greer.

“We have only one Spider-Man,” Ororo sensibly replied.

“Don’t let anyone take pictures of Logan spearing teddy bears.” Tony whispered a little prayer to the universe of please don’t let anyone do that. The PR headaches would last forever.

He suited up trying to think of where he had deployable nets. That would be the best solution. He’d have to head back to the Tower to get the right tools.

Wait. Stuffed animals attacking New York. _Edward Bear._

He never flew so fast to the Tower before. Chaos reigned in the streets below as children screamed and cried while people swatted at flying stuffed animals with anything they had in hand -- umbrellas, newspapers, canes. Fiberfill and fur floated like little clouds in the air and the streets were littered with the fallen toys.

“Hulk and Storm, head to these warehouses -- the police report large shipments of toys there,” Steve commanded over the comms. “Any info on Puppet Master?”

“Working on it!” Tony said. He set up a search for the supervillain. “Central Park? That’s what I have now.”

“I’m headed there now,” Steve reported back.

“I’ll join you when I finish off this giant rabbit,” Jan offered.

A herd of angry buzzing tsum tsums hit Tony right in the chest when he opened the door to the Avengers floor. Jarvis and the Tower robots were racing after the swarm with towels and cardboard boxes. Tony swung his arms, swatting tsums to the ground and ducking and weaving to avoid crunching them under his feet. The tsums rallied to attempt to ram the robots. “Jarvis?”

“We’ve getting the situation under control, Mr. Stark. But I should warn you that they sting.”

“Right.” The suit AI was now filtering the thousands of reports of the attack in the city. “How is it going, Cap?”

“We’ve cornered him in Belvedere Castle. Can you figure out how to stop this?”

“Sure.” They had information somewhere about Puppet Master’s special clay compounds he used to control inanimate things. The AI was on it. “Sending you information now. It spreads through contact from toy to toy. I’ll get the media to broadcast that tidbit -- might cut down on the carnage.”

“Got it.”

But _Edward Bear._ He had to be safe.

The Tower robots had gained the upper hand against the tsums. Now Jarvis was pushing them into a side room. Tony was back on mission.

Tony tripped over his feet as he ran through his room. Only grabbing on the door jamb stopped him from falling. He had left his suit jacket over Edward. He took a deep breath. The lump wasn’t moving. 

He peeled the suit off. In case whatever was making the stuffed animals attack was on his suit. He put the helmet on the bed so he hear the team. Then carefully took the coat off. 

Edward was fine. He smiled at Tony, his little arc reactor sparkling in the light, his arms ready to hug Tony. He let breath out he had no idea he was holding.

Well, he wasn’t going to fail Steve by losing Edward. “Come here, bear.”

~~~~~

Tony was on the floor of his bedroom, back against the wall and cradling Edward. The team had long since subdued the invasion and arrested Puppet Master. Tony had sent ideas for a stuffed animal charity and hospital, for all the little friends New York kids lost in the fight. A robot had scanned Edward (clean and safe) and then hauled away the suit for cleaning.

But he remained frozen in place. Proud to have saved Edward, not sure what to do next.

“You missed the debriefing,” Steve said from the doorway.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t have much to add.” Tony looked up and the visible pain on Steve’s face hit him hard in the solar plexus, like a punch from Dr. Doom. “Come in, Steve.”

Steve sat down on the bed opposite from Tony. “Good to see that Edward made it.”

“I love Edward. It’s the best gift anyone ever given me. I love you too,” Tony blurted out.

Steve blinked. “Uh, Tony.”

“In the interest of sparing us a painful and awkward intervention from our friends -- let’s cut to the chase.” Tony straightened up and put Edward back on the chair. “Look -- I panicked at New Year’s and didn’t know what to do when you tried to kiss me. I didn’t mean -- you could have warned a guy.”

“It was New Year’s,” Steve said.

“Yeah, I know.” Tony stood up and sat down on the bed next to Steve. Good sign there -- Steve didn’t move away. In fact, Steve looked anxious. Like he was being handed a present that he didn’t think he was going to get. “Steve -- we’ve been friends forever, right? Since the whole ice thing?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And no one would deny that you are one of the greatest human beings alive.”

“That’s an exaggeration --”

“To me you are.” Tony climbed further on the bed, swinging his legs up to fold them underneath him. “I messed up. But if I have this wrong --”

Steve’s eyes darted over to Edward. The final piece clicked into place.

“So Edward was a Not-Exactly-From-Just-A-Friend gift,” Tony stated.

“I should have been there when we sent you to the hospital. Fury called me about this intel and I had to go.” Steve sighed. “I saw Edward on my tablet and I just wanted to send you something to think of me.”

Tony smiled gently at Steve, put a hand on Steve’s arm, was overjoyed that Steve didn’t pull back. “I’m not into talking about feelings.”

“I’m not either.”

“So -- I more than like you, I think you more than like me, we should go on an official date and forget that I was kind of an ass.”

“I can go with that,” Steve said with clear relief on his face. 

Tony leaned in close. “I think I owe you a kiss.”

Now Steve beamed like the sun. “Lots of them.”

Tony kissed his perfect friend not-so-perfectly. Dry lips, noses in the way, Steve being a bit nervous, the bed shifting under them. But Tony was so happy he could have floated to the ceiling. “We should probably order takeout.”

“It’s awful out there,” Steve agreed.

Tony kissed Steve again. “I’m going to take you out for a real date tomorrow.”

“When the streets are clear.” Steve kissed Tony.

Tony liked where this was going. He was going to blow Steve’s mind and maybe something more with the best date ever. Assuming he could keep 1920s little Steve Bear a secret before the date. He could already see Retro Bear sitting right next to Edward on the bedroom chair, like best friends. 

Like more than best friends.


End file.
